A Marine reservist, Jasen Bruce, is under arrest in Tampa after beating a man whom he believed was a Muslim terrorist. The man turned out to be Father Alexios Marakis, a bearded Greek Orthodox priest in a traditional Greek robe.
Marakis was lost and had pulled over for directions when he approached Bruce, who initially had his back to him while getting clothes out of the trunk of his car. Marakis speaks little English. Bruce hit him with a tire iron and then chased him three blocks. He tackled the priest, pinned him to the ground, and called police to say that he had caught a terrorist.
Police say that Bruce later claimed (1) the priest tried to rob him, (2) the priest grabbed Bruce’s crotch and made an overt sexual advance in perfect English, and (3) the Greek Orthodox priest yelled “Allahu Akbar,” Arabic for “God is great.”
On the last part, Bruce reportedly explained, “That’s what they tell you right before they blow you up.”
We give this man weapons.
When he is not on reserve duty with the Marine, Bruce, 28, is a sales manager for APS Pharmacy in Palm Harbor. What is interesting is the media is reporting that his blog discusses the benefits of increasing testosterone and human growth hormones. He previously pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor battery in 2007 for shoving a tow truck driver. It is not clear if he was also a terrorist.
Bruce is now facing charges of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon. Marakis was hospitalized but does not want to press charges. My guess is that he would like to get out of Tampa.
For the full story, click here.
As well as he should. I believe that our schoolmarm provided us with this link and story yesterday. I believe that the story I read had some inference that he had a previous assault.
I expect an increase in incidents/stories like this as our National paranoia (xenophobia) grows unabated by common sense.
Good job, Fox News… keep that hysteria ratcheted up.
This blog carefully extracts bits and pieces from a broad spectrum that would indicate our society is fragmenting into bits and pieces everywhere.
Or at least this blog has microscopic vision which sees tiny cracks in the fabric of society everywhere.
If we can’t see it we can’t fix it. Good job. Lets fix it if possible.
Otherwise little crackpots will turn into global crackpots.
http://ecocosmology.blogspot.com/2009/11/shadow-of-time-governs-earth.html
Well maybe our not so bright, testosterone charged Marine reservist took his Tampa venue a little too seriously trying to live up to this second verse of the Marine Corps hymn:
“We have fought in ev’ry clime and place
Where we could take a gun;
In the snow of far-off Northern lands
And in sunny tropic scenes;”
Watch out your orthodox priests in “northern lands” like Alaska!
This guy works at a pharmacy. They should check their inventory.
nal,
good one.
the issue is that this guy is hopped up on steroids. It has nothing to do with him being a Marine. He is probably not going to be a Marine much longer.
Mespo:
you forgot the last couple of lines of the stanza:
“You will find us always on the job –
The United States Marines.”
Some years ago, my daughter was doing a research paper for a graduate course she was taking. She found information about felons and skinheads being inducted into the miltary. We both found that terribly troubling.
***************
Here are links to two articles on the subject:
Army, marines give waivers to more felons (4/21/2008)
WASHINGTON (CNN) — The Army and Marine Corps are allowing convicted felons to serve in increasing numbers, newly released Department of Defense statistics show.
Recruits were allowed to enlist after having been convicted of crimes including assault, burglary, drug possession and making terrorist threats.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/04/21/military.waivers/
AND
Hate Groups Are Infiltrating the Military, Group Asserts (NY Times, 7/07/2006)
A decade after the Pentagon declared a zero-tolerance policy for racist hate groups, recruiting shortfalls caused by the war in Iraq have allowed “large numbers of neo-Nazis and skinhead extremists” to infiltrate the military, according to a watchdog organization.
The Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks racist and right-wing militia groups, estimated that the numbers could run into the thousands, citing interviews with Defense Department investigators and reports and postings on racist Web sites and magazines.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/07/washington/07recruit.html
He also has an interesting sideline:
http://madabouttheboys.blogspot.com/2008/10/jasen-bruce.html
Well it’s easy to do. We all look the same.
Elaine M:
that is very troubling if true.
Don’t click on moar’s link. It hung up my computer and I had do ctl-alt-del to halt the process.
@nal – do you use some sort of web filtering/adult content filter on your machine? That could be the problem.
To sum up the contents of the site: our Patriotic Bigot has a sideline doing softcore gay porn.
Sikhs have also been attacked for their headgear. Usually though it was to the attackers surprised, because Sikhs are fierce warriors in general. This War on Terror crap has been promoted so far by the media, that the ignorant who cannot tell the difference in religious headgear, or the varied skin colors,
feel justified in their racist/bigoted activism.
nal,
The link must have just been a problem for your computer. I had no problem loading it, nor did the site contain any malicious code.
The link just has a lot of photos of Mr. Bruce.
Byron
Oh, it’s true. I can recall the White House and the Defense Dept. authorizing the lowered standards beginning around 2005 to keep the cannon fodder of troops heading to Iraq. First they dropped the high school diploma or equivilance requirement, then the felony conviction obstacle, then they began recruiting in Mexico and other countries with the promise of posthumous citizenship for the recruit and family if the recruit were to die in service to Bush’s wars.
Let us not forget the very strong emphasis on being a Christian that pervades the military these days as well. Skinheads, just like their Taliban counterparts use religion and holy books to justify their hatreds and violence. Organizations like war machines and Blackwater just love that leathal combination of religious zealotry, deep seated bigotry and violent behavior.
Mr. Bruce is now on his way to being an former Marine. Hopefully more for the attack and steroid use than anything else.
Byron said “Mr. Bruce is now on his way to being an former Marine”.
Not so. The UCMJ does not apply to him. He’s a reservist.
rcampbell:
if that Blackwater story is true, they need to be shut down quickly and with much malice.
Rather scary to think of the implications, what with the Neocons upset about Obama and the general mood of the country, could we be looking at a military style dictatorship in the next 2-4 years?
Hopefully the public has enough sense to vote people into office that have a devotion to civil liberties and an understanding of our founding documents.
This is not a good time for all of this to be occurring. Germany 1933 all over again? Doubtful, the Germans had been softened up by Hegel, Marx, and others in the early 1800′s to the ideas of the Nazi’s. We have our founding documents and a pretty good idea of right and wrong.
Paully:
he is apparently a gay man, dont ask dont tell wont work to well at this point.
he is done.
Byron,
Other than being influenced by anonymous commentary, what has led you to determine his sexuality?
Byron–
Here are links to three articles that were written by Jeremy Scahill, author of “Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army,” for The Nation:
Blackwater Attempted to Bribe Iraqi Officials (11/10/2009)
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20091123/scahill
Judge Refuses to Dismiss War Crimes Case Against Blackwater (10/22/2009)
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20091109/scahill
Blackwater Founder Implicated in Murder (8/4/2009)
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090817/scahill
***************
And from AlterNet:
Jeremy Scahill on Blackwater: They’re Christian Supremacists With a Conversion Agenda (VIDEO) (11/6/2007)
http://www.alternet.org/blogs/video/67106/
Paully,
Other than claimed to having been grabbed by the man as one of the reasons that he beat this man, I don’t know.
Paully:
the website that the Moar you know has listed. Maybe it isnt a gay web site so I may just be making an assumption.
I was surfing through my many cable channels yesterday and found the Outdoors channel. The night seemed to be devoted to weaponry and self defense and there were at least two shows that were shot on the blackwater training site. Very scary stuff and the few minutes I saw did nothing to relax my anxiety.
I was reminded of this song by Mespo’s comment in the Catholic Delaware thread, but i think it fits better here.
W.B. Yeats and Joni
He deserved it. On 9/11/01 the Archbishop of Athens said we deserved it. As a Greek American I know what an anti-American anti-Semite he is if he doesn’t bathe, shave and wear pants unlike the priests of my youth under Iakovos. If he doesn’t speak English, he came here to spread poison. You can imagine what unnatural islamosoviet actions take place under his filthy gutter-swabbing cassock.
Thanks, pardon me?, for the Yates reminder:
“The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.”
–The Second Coming
Yates? “Yeats” make that.
Clearly too much testosterone in his system. He should have *all* sources of testerone taken away from him…
Outrage and puffery are the bread and butter of blogdom; this story is a pretty good example of why bloggers are not a good exchange for the old-style press. Bruce has had interviews in which he addresses many of the assertions above. He noted that the confrontation took place in a gated private parking garage on a cul-de-sac – how did the priest get in there, and why would he be asking directions there and not in one of the several nearby convenience stores? His description of events is obviously different. He also addresses the smear concerning the gay porn sites by noting that he did a modeling stint, and that several gay porn sites have appropriated images from the modeling site to boost their business.
If Turley were a journalist, he’d dig into this. Walk, or have someone walk, the scene of the event to see how it compares with Bruce’s account. Maybe scare up the name of the modeling agency Bruce shot with and see how his accusation of misappropration by the porn sites stacks up. You know – work to find the truth, instead of offering inanities such as “we give this man weapons.”
What about it, Jon? You willing to do some actual journalism?
HB, I live in Florida and have followed this story. Your efforts to spin it are just that, spin. And speaking of journalistic credibility, all of the responsible journalists with whom I’m familiar do not find it necessary to hide behind pseudonyms. Your doing so likely means that you simply have an agenda that is not necessarily related to the truth. How about it, HB? Are you willing to do some actual journalism? I expect not.
Mike,
- I live in Tampa; you live in Orlando. The story happened in Tampa. If proximity = credibility, you lose. (Not that I’d argue anything so inane.)
- If you are not familiar with jouralists using pseudonyms, that speaks more to your education than to the nefarious nature of pseudonyms. I direct your attention to Benjamin Franklin as a good starting point.
- That said, I’m not the one with pretensions to being a journalist; that would be Mr. Turley. My reasons for remaining anonymous are quite straightforward and have more to do with not wanting some unbalanced nutcase showing up on my doorstep than with sinister agendas.
- Now that we’ve dispensed with the ad hominems, Mike, are you suggesting that it is NOT the proper role of the journalist to attempt to ascertain the facts before presenting a story as truth? If you’ll read my comments again, you’ll note that I didn’t take a side – I mentioned that there were alternative explanations offered, and that the journalist had not done any elementary fact-checking. I note that you don’t dispute that.
Mike,
Just a little follow-up. Today’s Tampa Trib reported that Jasen Bruce has been cleared and will not be charged. I wasn’t going to hold my breath waiting for Mr. Turley to follow up on his righteously indignant original piece. Did you want to discuss ‘spin’ some more?
xxx ooo
Hiernonymous
Mr Turley,
It’s been a few weeks since the news broke that Mr. Bruce was cleared. Given the alacrity with which you posted your initial outrage at his alleged misdeeds, I would have thought that simple intellectual honesty and a sense of right and wrong would have led you to make notice of the fact of his clearing, as well. Perhaps you’ve done so and I missed it; if so, I’d appreciate a link or some directions to it.
It’s a shame that when one googles Mr. Bruce’s name, what leaps out at one is still the mob of knee-jerk denunciation from last November. While you are not alone in being a bit faster to denounce than to retract, I thought you should know that at least one person is watching this as a test of your good name. To paraphrase your entry above, “we give this man a keyboard?”
H,
Where does it say that his name has been cleared?
Hiernonymous,
I am waiting for an answer, should I wait two weeks?
Homework submitted without references will be returned ungraded.
I guess if the state’s attorney( or its equivalent in Florida) drops the charges because they can’t prove its case,in H’s world that means his name is cleared. The article actually states that it doesn’t clear his name, but that the state can’t prove their case. Now, if it was a Catholic Priest, maybe the reservist’s story about the priest grabbing his genitals would be believable.
Anonymously – I’d be guessing that when I said ‘in today’s Tampa Trib’ on 10 March, the answer to your question would be in the 10 March Tampa Tribune. I don’t know how many weeks it will take you to go to the Trib site and search for “Jasen Bruce”
In case you’re terminally lazy or a bit slow, I took 20 seconds and got the link: http://www2.tbo.com/content/2010/mar/10/na-man-cleared-inbeatingof-greek-priest/
rafflaw: that’s EXACTLY what it means. Perhaps if you lived in a country that lived under a Napleonic Code, it would work the way you imply – but under our system, a man is innocent until proved guilty, and this case seems to be a bit of egg on the face that assumed Bruce was proved guilty.
You’ll both recall that I did not enter this conversation insisting Bruce was innocent, but that there was a great deal of material available that Mr. Turney had ignored in his denunciation. In light of this recent development, it seems a bit difficult to argue with that.
Forgive the typo; it’s Mr. Turley, of course.
H,
If you had said he was innocent until proven guilty as a “journalist” you would have been correct. However, you said that his name was cleared. The article that you quoted did not say that. You were insulting Prof. Turley for not being accurate and you puffed up the story to state something that it did not say.
I have another question for you. Why did the Marine need a tire iron to fend off a Priest?
raff,
Poor fellow had obviously run upon that rarest of priests, a Hrothgarian. Named for St. Hrothgar Stonewapper of the Rock, this order is small and known for their meditative practice which consists entirely of whacking each other in the head with a rock tied to a stick. Needless to say, there are many miscommunications when the brothers try to proselytize. Priest goes to bless him and WHAM!
A simple misunderstanding.
Buddha,
The Hrothgarian’s sound like Shaolin monks. This one must have been related to the “Grasshopper”!
rafflaw – you might want to take a look at the name of the link. ‘na-man-cleared-inbeatingof-greek-priest’ was pretty unambiguous, and was the name chosen by those who published the piece, not some aftermarket redirect. I’m pretty sure my word choice wasn’t “puffing up” the intent or the content of the piece.
You might want to ask the DA why Bruce thought it necessary to use a tire iron. Although I understand the humor in your exchange on monks, that brings up a perfectly valid point, and one familiar to anyone who’s visited the Church of the Holy Sepulchre – to wit, priests are not all fragile, tiny men, and they are no less prey to human failings, including violence, than anyone else. It would be sloppy thinking to assume that simply because one individual in the altercation was a priest (sorry, a Priest), that he could not have been in the wrong.
I don’t think I’m insulting Mr. Turley. If one chooses to broadcast and embellish on accusations against a man in the public media, I think that one incurs an obligation to be fair, complete, and to follow up. He’s not done so in this case, and it’s not insulting to point that out.
rafflaw – I forgot to add that the priest in question was 29 years old, and Bruce was 28. Bruce, by the way, is a reservist, and his full-time occupation is sales manager for a pharmacy.
This link contains a picture of the priest being loaded into the ambulance: http://byztex.blogspot.com/2009/11/marine-attacks-orthodox-priest-in-tampa.html
And this picture includes Father Alexious in priestly regalia in better times: http://boston.goarch.org/assets/images/PARISH%20VISITS/0820.jpg
I think Jasen Bruce overreacted, but I can see how it happened. If Bruce had been familiar with the Greek Orthodox tradition of using the “crotch grab” when asking for directions from strangers, or that Greek Orthodox tradition recommends pulling into a gated parking garage at night, instead of a gas station or 7-11, he would have been more understanding.
The comments here did not give Jasen the benefit of the doubt.
Why the tire iron? Because in a perceived struggle for your life, playing fair is not the most important thing. Winning is.
I ask that everyone watch the video in the linked article.
http://www.myfoxtampabay.com/dpp/news/local/hillsborough/309-no-charges-in-priests-beating
I think he should be considered to be “cleared”.
Anonomously Yours – did you find it yet? Coming up on two weeks…
Jonathon,
I take it you don’t plan to change, add to, or subtract from your initial comments?
Jon,
I notice that this story is still on your site, and I can’t find any follow-up or clarification on your part. Sadly typical of online bloviators: more interested in drumming up outrage to generate hits than reporting fairly or accurately. Surely that is not the most ethical approach to public commentary?